FREDERICKTOWN — All-Ohio athlete Isaac Potes has been selected as the Mount Vernon News Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year for 2008. Along with Potes, Crystal Wise, also of Fredericktown, and All-Ohio runner Sarah Baker of Mount Vernon were selected a Co-Girls Cross Country Runners of the Year. In addition, Johnstown first-year coach Eric Hamner was selected as the 2008 Mount Vernon News Cross Country Coach of the Year.
Potes dominated the local running scene during the fall season and qualified for the Division III State Championship with the fastest time in any of the state regionals for Division III. He also won the Mid-Buckeye Conference title in Croton and led his team to a berth in the state meet, where he had a fourth-place individual finish.
“Actually, before the start of the year, I was thinking that I could be fifth in the state or better so that worked out pretty well for me,” said Potes. “I had no idea how fast I would run this year because we had to figure a few things out. These last two years have been uncharted territory for me.”
Potes’ simple work ethic and modest demeanor belie a tough and talented young man.
“I just keep running,” said Potes. “It’s pretty simple. Last year, I didn’t know how fast I could run. I would just follow (teammate) Jimmy Shinaberry. I’d just stick to him the first few races and see how it went. We were at an invitational and I was on top of a reservoir and I looked down and thought, ‘Hmm, I think I can go faster — and I did.”
From that point it has been a steady climb for Potes, who is coming off the second All-Ohio performance of his career. His 2009 goal is simple — No. 1 in Ohio in Division III.
“I will run a lot more in the offseason than I did last year,” said Potes.
Mount Vernon’s Baker ascended the podium at the Division I State Championship with a 24th-place finish at Scioto Downs.
“It’s really great,” said Baker. “It’s a really good accomplishment. I had a really good season and I’m really happy about it.”
Baker, who went to the state meet in 2007, was ready to achieve more in 2008.
“This year, I had set some higher goals for myself and what I really wanted was to get All-Ohio,” said Baker. “I went in shooting for that goal and I got it. Next year, I want to get top 15.”
All that and she’s only a junior.
“I’m going to go on to track season and get my goals for track down,” said Baker. “This summer, I will work as hard as I did this year — maybe harder — so I can get to my new goal next year.”
“We worked all summer and fall to get her goal,” said Mount Vernon girls cross country coach Pat Gray. “She went to the state last year, and there was no pressure and she got 40th. After that, she had a great track season and then she sat down and set her goals. She really wanted the top 25 for All-Ohio, so we laid out a plan about how we were going to run over the summer and how we would handle the season and she stuck to the plan.”
Wise, a senior who got to the state championship as a freshman and sophomore, struggled through her senior year, but made it all the way back after missing her junior year of cross country. This year, Wise became the first Fredericktown girl to run a race at Scioto Downs in under 20 minutes, just missing All-Ohio honors for 2008 by five seconds.
“After missing my junior year, I worried if I was going to be as good as before,” said Wise. “I hadn’t trained in the offseason because I wasn’t sure if I was going to run cross country this year. I was two or three weeks behind everyone else in conditioning. It wasn’t until I ran an all-out mile in 5:49 (right before the MBC meet) that I said, ‘Yeah, you’re going to do this.’ I really wanted to get All-Ohio and it killed me when I didn’t, but to break 20:00 on that course (Scioto Downs) especially since it’s such a slow course — that was as good as I could have done. I almost fell down in the chute at the finish because I was so tired.”
Fredericktown coach Denny Stevens knew Wise could do it, saying, “Crystal had a strong finish. She started out the season not in the best of shape, but she got better and better. The last month of the season for her was tremendous. She wanted to get back to state and she got the best finish ever for a Fredericktown girl. She’s a senior and she had been there before. I think her experience kicked in, and she was very rugged the last four weeks of the season. Isaac’s performance was part of a group effort that helped our entire boys team reach state. It was just a great season for us.”
Hamner took his team of girls, led by freshman Stephanie Loshbough, all the way to the Division II State Championship. Loshbough, Erin Radigan, Kaila Kramer, Karlee Michel, Emily Johnson, Brenna Hosey, Ashley Mast and Kaitlyn Sapp managed to do what no Johnstown squad had done before.
While that was a great accomplishment, taking his boys team to the regionals may have been an even greater feat. The Johnnies boys, led by state qualifier Jeremy Hornick along with Matt Wall, James Platt, Drew Jenney, David Harper and Keith Wilbur, were only a team of three runners at the start of the season. Hamner grew the team into a winner.
“It was definitely a fortunate year for us,” said Hamner. “I will say that it was beginner’s luck. If we call it anything else, it will be a heck of a lot of pressure for next year.”
As a new coach, Hamner had no idea what he had to work with. Fortunately, he was able to see the potential of his team in a hurry.
“From the second week of the season, I thought that we might be able to pull this off,” said Hamner. “To be honest, right off the bat, I had already told them that I thought we could go to state. At the time, I thought that we were Division III. Then, I realized that we were Division II. Then I told them about four weeks into the season, ‘It’s going to be much tougher. We have to get our team average down from 21:40 to 21-flat or faster, but we have a lot of work to do between now and then.’ Right then, they bit the hook.”
Along the way, Hamner created a bond with his team like no other.
“I think it’s kind of contagious,” said Hamner. “I just cared about them and they just realized that everyone was not just working for themselves, but for their teammates and for me. It was different from last year when everyone didn’t hang out as much and didn’t have team functions except for practice. Now, they are working for a greater cause.”
